According to Superintendent Lynn Cleary, the move would save Lincoln nearly $500,000 per year over the next three years.

According to the article, the district has put out a request for bids for custodial services from private companies, and also gave Lincoln Education Associates Organization (LEAO), the custodian''s union, the same parameters, but the union refused to submit a bid.

"For them to ask us to submit a bid was something we couldn''t do, because we don''t have bookkeepers. We don''t have the people in place to do it. We''re not licensed and bonded as a company," said Steve Mitchell, lead LEAO negotiator and head custodian at Model Elementary.

The district would submit any laid-off employees to the chosen private company for preferential hire: If the employees were not hired, they would be laid off, the article stated.